Road Rules

Wired has a blurb about how statistically, there are fewer bicycle accidents when the number of regular cyclists on the road increases. It’s funny that they don’t take into account cyclist behaviors, but rather just motorist behaviors. I’m pretty tired of cyclists in Ann Arbor doing all the finger-pointing at motorists, because as a cyclist, I see a lot of other cyclists doing stupid things like: weaving in and out of traffic; running stop signs and red traffic lights; turning left from the right side of the road; not signaling when turning; riding fast on the sidewalk; not having safety lights mounted on their bicycles at night (which, by the way, is actually illegal); and weaving from sidewalk to road and back to sidewalk again. Usually, of course, without signalling.

Another hypothesis: with the increase in cyclists comes an increase in cyclist education, too. Moreover, the inverse effect of more motorists becoming cyclists, something that Wired points out as an obvious correlation from a community having more people on bikes, cyclists begin to realize what assholes they can be. Same road, same rights, same rules, guys.

Or maybe Ann Arbor just lends itself to poor driving, on two wheels as well as four.

Please look at the League of Michigan Bicyclists site for more information about not being an asshole on your bike. I’m sick of being maligned because of your dick choices.